Forests, game, and fish are lucrative resources somewhat unexpected in a semiarid state; sheep and cattle—in this the stronghold of the cowboy, famous in gunfighter lore—each total more than a million. New Mexico’s 1965 mineral production, valued at $781.9 million, ranked seventh among the states. Principal commodities won from the rocks, in order of value, were oil, potash, natural gas, uranium, copper, sand and gravel, zinc, coal, crushed stone, and perlite. Sizeable quantities of barite, beryl, carbon dioxide, cement, clays, gem stones, gold, gypsum, helium, iron ore, lead, limestone, magnesium compounds, manganese, mica, molybdenum, pumice, salt, silver, sulfur, and vanadium were also mined. The huge open-pit copper mine at Santa Rita, the many uranium mines near Grants, the underground potash mines near Carlsbad, and the thousands of oil and gas wells in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the state are typical of man-made landscape features attributable to mineral exploitation in New Mexico. Numerous old mine dumps, rotting mine shafts, and spooky ghost towns are reminders of past fortunes won and lost. The rocks, the work of water, wind, and sun, and the not insignificant upheavals by man have shaped New Mexico’s landscapes. Blended with its blue skies, warm sun, and the products of three cultures—Indian, Spanish, and American—the rocks and their movements have made the landscapes a land of enchantment. Earth wears a mantle rich with lore, of storied fabric finely spun, That tells of kingdoms come and gone, of legions lost and battles won. No seer no monarch can divine, the cryptic writings; he alone, Who humbly speaks the tongue of earth, can find a story in a stone. Before Coronado _by_ Robert H. Weber The cultural heritage of New Mexico is a rich and colorful one, blending as it does the three separate traditions of Indian, Spanish, and Anglo-American. Of these, the lifeways of the Indian, ancient and modern, are of particular interest to both the visitor and resident. These were the first inhabitants of the New World, whose roots extend back in time many thousands of years before the first European set foot here. People who had adapted themselves to the varied and often harsh environments of desert, plain, valley, canyon, and mountain; who witnessed the disappearance of the large mammals of the Pleistocene Ice Age and concomitant changes in climate and vegetation; the first prospectors and miners seeking flint, obsidian, turquoise, clay, salt, and mineral pigments; early traders exchanging valued minerals and handicrafts for shells of the coastal regions; hunters and farmers, architects and builders, civic and religious leaders, philosophers and critics, skilled craftsmen and artists, explorers and soldiers—all ancient counterparts of those who were to follow.